Circular loom



Fb. 15, 1938. F. C. HALE ET AL CIRCULAR LOOM Fined Dec. 1e. 193

Patented Feb. 15, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CIRCULAR LOOM tion of Delaware Application December 16, 1936, Serial No. 116,072 In Great Britain January 17, 1936` 6 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in circular looms of the kind in which the shuttles are held in position within the warp shed by means of rotatable vane wheels disposed sol as to pass through one warp sheet into contact with flanged rollers carried by the shuttle, as described, for example, in U. S. Patent No. 2,050,328. The -engagement of the vane wheels and the flanges of the rollers provides the thrust on the shuttles necessary to enable relative circular motion to take place between the shuttles and the warps with respect to the looml axis, and the slots in the vane wheels allow for the free passage of the threads of the penetrated sheet during such relative motion.

In a circular loom in which the shuttles rotate about the loom axis, the vane wheels are driven about the axis at the necessary speed, and by their engagement with the flanges of the rollers propel the shuttles at the same angular speed. The vane wheels and the flanged rollers are made of suitable material to stand up to the rolling action between these members, and the rolling contact ensures long working life for the rotating parts and very little tendency to wearing action such as might produce sharp edges liable to damage the w-arp threads.

According to the present invention, each rotatable roller is provided with a thrust-receiving flange adapted to be engaged by the side of a vane wheel, .and a flange of tough resilient material, the resilient flange being disposed adjacent to the side of the thrust-receiving flange which contacts with the vane wheel, and spaced from such side to form an annular groove sufficiently wide to permit free entry therein of the edge of a vane wheel. When the shuttles tend to over-run the vane Wheels, as for example when the loom stops, the tough flanges take the thrust of the shuttles on the opposite sides of the vane wheels, instead of the vane wheels coming intoI contact with hard metallic parts such as might damage them, and especially the rear edges of the vanes.

The vane Wheels are conveniently mounted in pairs, the two wheels engaging two flanges provided on each roller, and the tough flanges are conveniently disposed one to each roller in front of the rearmost flange so as to contact with the rear face of the foremost vane wheel when overrunning occurs.

Each roller may consist of an assembly of two metal anges to engage the sides of the two vane wheels, two metallic bushes of lesser diameter to engage the peripheries of the vane Wheels,

and a ange of the tough resilient material interposed behind the intermediate metallic bush and adjacent to the front face of the rearmost metallic flange. The tough flange may have the same diameter as the main roller flanges and a length sullicient to give clearance between itself and the foremost metallic flange for the foremost vane wheel.

The resilient flanges are advantageously made of tough, nonmetallic material such as. bre or resin-impregnated material such as sheets of canvas or other fabric blocked into -a solid mass capable of being machined.

By way of example a form of apparatus according to the invention incorporated in a shutf tle of the type described in U. S. Patent No. 2,050,328 will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing in which Fig. l is a front elevation of a shuttle;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a detail of Fig. l on larger scale; and

Fig. 3 is a part cross-sectional front elevation of a detail of Fig. 2.

Referring to Fig. 1 the shuttle comprises anr upper portion 4 on which is mounted a weft spool 5 and a lower or body portion 5, the body portion being formed with an opening 'l across which extend two vertically disposed bearing members B. The members 8 each hold two` double ball bearings 9 (Fig. 3) in two horizontally aligned pairs, each pair rotatably supporting a horizontally disposed spindle I0. The bearing members 8 are spaced apart by members ll in which the spindles l0 rotate freely. VThe ends of the spindles i0 project from the bearings 9 and each end supports a flanged roller l2 (Fig. l), the rollers supported by similar ends of the two spindles being in vertically aligned relation.

Each roller l2 is formed from a number of l associated bushes and flanges which fit closely on the spindle l0. Thus each of the twoI rollers disposed at the left-hand side of the left-hand bearing member 8 comprises a metal bushing i3 (Fig. 3) shaped to fit against the ball bearing 9, a metal flange 14 of larger diameter, a flange I5 of the same diameter of tough resilient material such as fibre or resin-impregnated canvas, a metal bushing I6 of the same diameter as bushing i3 and a further metal flange I1 of the same diameter as flanges I4 and l5. The whole assembly is held in close contact by a washer I8 which is pressed against the end flange Il by nuts i9 screwing on the threaded end of the spindle I0.

As will be observed from Fig. 3 the general shape of an assembled roller I2 is that of a cylinder formed with an annular groove round its periphery between the flanges I5 and I'I, and an end portion of similarly reduced diameter to the right of the ilange I4.

In order to drive the shuttles round the loom (i. e. to the left as seen in Fig. 1) each vertical pair of rollers I2 is engaged by an associated pair of vane wheels 2I mounted on a driving shaft 22, the shaft being carried round the loom at the rate at which it is desired to drive the shuttles. The edge of the leading vane Wheel 2I of a pair freely enters the groove between the flanges I5, I'I and the edge of the other vane wheel fits in the reduced portion of the roller to the right of the flange Ill, the peripheries of the wheels rolling against the bushings I3, I6 while the sides of the Wheels adjacent to the flanges I4, I'I thrust against the ilanges and so urge the shuttle round the loom.

If the shuttles tend to over-run the vane wheels, as for example when the loom stops, the movement of the shuttles relatively to the vane Wheels brings each resilient flange I5 into contact with the adjacent side of the nearest vane wheel, the resilient ilanges thus taking the thrust of the shuttle. In this manner the danger of the vane wheels contacting with hard metallic portions of the shuttle such as might tend to damage the wheels is obviated.

As Will be apparent from Fig. l the rollers l2 disposed at the right-hand side of the right-hand bearing member 8, while comprising the same type and number of components as the left-hand rollers, are slightly modified in View of the different hand of the rollers. Thus each roller as a whole is disposed nearer to the bearing member 8, the ilange I4 abutting the bearing 9 and the bushing I3 being disposed between the flange I 'I and the washer I8. Similarly, the resilient flange I5 and the bushing I6 are interchanged, the vane wheel-receiving portions of the roller thus being formed at the right-hand sides of the flanges Iii and il as with the rollers i2 disposed at the left-hand side of the left-hand bearing member 8.

Having described our invention, what we desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

l. Circular loom shuttle of the type which is positioned in the loom by vane: wheels, comprising rotatable rollers adapted to be engaged by the vane wheels, each of said rollers being provided with a flange for receiving thrust from the side of a Vane wheel and a separate flange of tough resilient brous material disposed adjacent to the side of the thrust-receiving flange which contacts with the vane wheel, and spaced from said side to form an annular groove suiliciently wide to permit free entry therein of the edge of the vane Wheel.

2. Circular loom shuttle of the type which is positioned in the loom by vane wheels, comprising rotatable rollers adapted to be engaged by the vane Wheels, each of said rollers being provided with a ilange for receiving thrust from the side of a vane wheel and a separate ilange of resilient resin-impregnated lbrous material disposed adjacent to the side of the thrust-receiving flange which contacts with the vane wheel, and spaced from said side to form an annular groove sufficiently wide to permit free entry therein of the edge of a vane wheel.

3. Circular loom shuttle of the type which is positioned in the loom by vane wheels, comprising rotatable rollers each adapted to be engaged by a pair of vane wheels, a pair of flanges on each roller, each flange being adapted to receive thrust from the side of a vane wheel, and a separate flange of tough resilient fibrous material on each roller, said resilient flange being disposed between the pair of thrust-receiving ilanges and spaced from the side of a thrust-receiving flange which contacts with a vane wheel to form an annular groove sufliciently wide to permit free entry therein of the edge of a vane wheel.

4. Circular loom shuttle of the type which is positioned in the loom by vane wheels, comprising composite rollers adapted to be engaged by the vane wheels, each of said rollers comprising a metal ange, a metal bushing of smaller diameter, a tough resilient ilange and a further metal ilange each having the same diameter as said first-mentioned metal flange, and a further metal bushing having the same diameter as said first-mentioned metal bushing, said flanges and bushings being juxtaposed to form a generally cylindrical body having both a portion of reduced diameter at one end to fit against the periphery of a vane wheel, and an annular groove between a metal flange and the tough resilient ilange, the groove being sufciently wide to permit free entry therein of the edge of a vane wheel.

5. A roller for a circular loom shuttle of the type which is positioned in the loom by vane wheels, comprising a metal thrust-receiving flange and a tough resilient brous flange spaced therefrom by means of a metal bushing of smaller diameter than said flanges.

6. A roller for a circular loom shuttle of the type which is positioned in the loom by vane Wheels, comprising two metal thrust-receiving ilanges and a tough resilient fibrous ilange arranged between them and spaced from one of them by means of a metal bushing of smaller diameter than said flanges.

FRANK CORBYN HALE. JAMES RUSSELL YORKE. 

